1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention pertains generally to a system and method of commingling selected documents into mail-pieces or mail items that are initially assigned to “virtual” mailing trays to maximize the various US Postal Service mailing rate discounts and to minimize physical sortation handling of the actual mail-pieces during assembly of the final physical mailing trays. More particularly, the subject system and method of operation relates to proactively grouping disparate mail items by considering a manufacture completion schedule and maximum profitability of discounting the mail items by examining the mail that is queued to be produced in a processing (print and/or mail) facility. Even more particularly, the subject system and method allow a bulk mailer to group all of the documents coming from one or more sources and being mailed to one zip code into a single mail tray piece that is first created in a “virtual” mailing tray before it is physically sorted into an actual physical mailing tray, thereby maximizing US Postal Service discount mailing rates for similar ZIP Code items and minimizing wasted time and funds required for multiple physical sortation loops.
2. Description of Related Art
US Postal Service (USPS) regulations require that in order to obtain the maximum mail rate discount, mail/mailpieces must be grouped together by ZIP Code or ZIP Code range. These rules are described at length in the USPS Domestic Mail Manual (DMM). There are several ways of grouping mail to obtain the discounts (see discount details below). One common way is to take mail that has been manufactured to a commingling or presort machine. A typical example of a presort machine is a “Bowe Bell and Howell Criterion Mail Sorter.”
U.S. Patent Application 20060080122 discloses that multiple print streams destined for individual print stream processing modules are optimized prior to printing. The process of optimizing includes receiving an input representing a plurality of documents to be printed and determining an attribute of each document of the plurality of documents represented by the input. The attribute relates to processing of the respective document through the document processing system. Optimization involves balancing an operation time of a first print stream processing module with an operation time of a second print stream processing module, by assigning each document to one of the print stream processing modules based on its determined attribute. It is stress that the invention described is a document processing process that optimizes the order of multiple print streams of documents comprising documents that are destined for use with a “Bowe Bell and Howell Criterion Mail Sorter”-type machine.
Another way to process mail/mailpieces is to commingle the mail, prior to actual print production, into print files that are already grouped in the correct sort order based on the rules in the DMM. Examples of this approach are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,665 and commercially available software products that accomplish this same grouping through software such as Postalsoft Mailing Software from Firstlogic/Business Objects (http://www.businessobjects.com/products/postalsoft/) and Infoprint Workflow from IBM/Ricoh. Additionally, software currently exists that uses mail data from mail in the process of being manufactured to update sort schemes on presort equipment. WinSort Smart Scheme from Bowe Bell and Howell is an example of this type of software (http://www.bowebellhowell.com/WinSortSmartScheme.aspx).
Specifically, according to US Postal Service mailing regulations, individual mail-pieces that are sorted by various ZIP Code schemes may receive lower postage rates. Commercial prices are affected by the level of sorting accomplished based on volume minimums, e.g. 150 pieces under current regulations. In order to benefit from ZIP Code grouping discounts, traditional bulk mailing facilities employ multiple physical sortation passes on the sortation equipment to achieve the various ZIP Code discounts. Each final level of sortation is charged a different mailing rate by the US Postal Service. The sortation schemes place letters into appropriate mailing trays. Presort software has existed for several years that can help with the sorting process, but its implementation still requires multiple physical sortation passes of the mail-pieces to assemble the various discounted mailing trays. Often the existing sortation software sorts and prints address labels by ZIP Code according to the standards of a particular mailing service, as well as creating tray and sack labels, sorting documentation, and completed postage statements. Additionally, it is stressed that requirements exist concerning the actual number of mail-pieces contained in a mailing tray(s) to meet the minimum quantity for discount rates.
Mail-pieces that are sorted to five digits share the same ZIP Code and are usually concentrated in one small town or neighborhood and receive the greatest postal discount. If there are not enough mail-pieces to qualify for the same 5-digit ZIP Code (5+4-digit Zip Codes are even more specific and, thus, possibly open to even greater discounts than 5-digit ZIP Codes), then the next level of postal discount (less discount than for the 5-digit ZIP Codes sortation) is for three digit ZIP Code sortation. Thus, after sorting all possible 5-digit ZIP codes, the mail-pieces that share the same first 3-digit ZIP Codes are grouped together. If there are not enough mail-pieces to qualify for the same 3-digit ZIP Code, then the next level of postal discount is for mail-pieces to be sorted to Automated Area Distribution Centers (AADCs), which are areas that serve several 3-digit ZIP Codes in one area of the country. Each AADC facility utilizes multi-line optical character readers, barcode sorters, and other equipment designed for processing automatically compatible mail-pieces. Finally, if there are not enough mail-pieces to qualify for the same AADC presort area then mixed AADC sortation is utilized. Mixed AADC sorted mailing trays include mail that will be going to several different final locations (these mailing trays require the greatest level of processing by the Postal Service and, therefore, receive less of a mailing rate discount).
Existing bulk mailers have attempted to obtain maximum postal rate discounts by attempting to follow the discount groupings presented immediately above (5-digit/5+4-digit ZIP Code (highest discount) to 3-digit ZIP Code to AADC to mixed AADC (lowest discount)). However, in order to achieve the 5-digit ZIP Code (highest) to mixed AADC (lowest) discounts, existing bulk mailers are faced with the necessity of sorting the mail-pieces via multiple physical sortation schemes. Each time the mail-pieces are physically handled to refine the final sortation arrangement time and money are lost. Thus, existing bulk mailers are faced with the hard financial fact that at some “trade-off” point the physical mail-piece sortation processes become too expensive and are not off-set by the associated mail-piece discounts. For example, one physical sortation pass of the mail-pieces extract some specific 5-digit ZIP Code items and most of the 3-digit ZIP Code items; all other 5-digit, 3-digit, AADC, and mixed AADC items require subsequent passes.